Shunned by opposition, Iraqi Kurdistan’s 2 biggest parties head to alliance
Kurdistan Region’s flag.
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi Kurdistan’s two leading parties are heading towards an alliance as opposition group show reluctance, a Kurdish politician was quoted saying.
Ariz Abdullah, a member of the commanding council of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), told Almaalomah website that his party and the dominant Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) were heading towards an alliance after boycott from opposition groups.
He said the opposition, again, refused to join both parties “for their own political reasons”, adding that “the two Kurdish parties decided to engage in negotiations alone should the opposition’s stances persist”.
According to Abdullah, “the Kurdish delegation is not going to visit Baghdad before results of the parliamentary elections are approved in order to determine the largest (parliament) block”.
Relations deteriorated between Baghdad and Erbil after the autonomous region voted in a popular poll in September for independence from Iraq, a step Baghdad deemed unconstitutional.
After several penal measures from Baghdad, including an embargo on international flights to Kurdistan, and a recapture of territories where sovereignty is disputed by both sides, a detente was witnessed over the past few months after Baghdad lifted the embargo and both sides headed towards a joint management of disputed regions.Both sides have frequently emphasized on dialogue to address problematic issues.
Iraqi parliament elections, held in May, were surrounded by judicial and parliamentary challenges to its integrity, which prompted courts to decide a manual recount of votes.